america staring down the fiscal cliff. t-minus nine hours and counting and washington is wasting no time. senate minority leader mcconnell saying both sides are close to a deal. it's about time. >> my preference would have been to solve all these problems in the context of a larger agreement, a bigger deal, a grand bargain. whatever you want to call it. that solves our deficit problems in a balanced and responsible way. with this congress, that was obviously a little bit too much to hope for at this time. it may be we can do it in stages. >> there are a number of issues on which the two sides are still apart but negotiations are continuing as i speak. but we really are running out of time. >> the vice president and i have worked together on solutions before and i believe we can again. >> no holiday for the best political team around. a triple threat, luke russert and mike viqueira on the capitol hill and kristen welker from the white house. are you happy to be working on the holiday? >> it's fantastic. >> absolutely. >> so